By Mai Nguyen
June 13 (Reuters) - Prices of most base metals fell on Thursday, weighed down by the prospect of the U.S. Federal Reserve cutting interest rates only once this year and at a later time than expected.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.6% at $9,887 per metric ton by 0722 GMT,
cheap instagram followers while the Shanghai Futures Exchange's (SHFE) July copper contract closed up 0.4% at 80,000 yuan ($11,032.05) a ton.
The Fed held interest rates steady on Wednesday and pushed out the start of rate cuts to perhaps as late as December.
Market participants had hoped for two to three rate cuts, starting as early as September.Rate cuts normally help boost growth and metals demand, while weakening the U.S. dollar, which makes greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.
Meanwhile, the demand for physical metals was tepid.Even after prices fell in recent sessions, end-user copper demand in China is still not strong, said Jinrui Futures in a note.
However, the downstream copper products' inventory level is low, so "there is a certain short-term demand", Jinrui said.
It recommended buyers snap up copper at low prices for short-term demand, but to hold out for mid-term orders.
Copper premiums in top consumer China remained low, while inventories in both LME and SHFE warehouses were still rising. <SMM-CUYP-CN> <MCUSTX-TOTAL> <CU-STX-SGH>.
The LME cash copper contract was trading at a discount of $123.51 per ton to the three-month contract on Wednesday, indicating abundant near-term supplies. <CMCU0-3>
LME aluminium fell 1% to $2,550.50 a ton, nickel declined 1.7% to $17,755, zinc shed 1.1% to $2,862, lead rose 0.1% to $2,174.50, and tin decreased 0.8% to $33,110.
SHFE aluminium shed 0.8% to 20,645 yuan a ton, nickel dropped 0.6% to 138,520 yuan, lead eased 0.2% to 18,580 yuan, while zinc rose 0.7% to 23,695 yuan and tin climbed 1.9% to 273,910 yuan.
For the top stories in metals and other news, click or($1 = 7.2516 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Varun H K, Sonia Cheema and Janane Venkatraman)
